Learning outside the classroom

Introduction

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4

Reflection

Introduction

This module provides examples of ways that learning outside the classroom can be used to facilitate Education for Sustainable Development. This includes short visits into the school grounds and local community, as well as visits to farms, factories, offices, neighbourhood science centres and natural settings such as a forest, a beach or a national park.

Providing students with high quality learning activities in relevant situations beyond the walls of the classroom is vital for helping students appreciate their first hand experiences from a variety of different perspectives. Experiences outside the classroom also enhances learning by providing students with opportunities to practice skills of enquiry, values analysis and clarification and problem solving in everyday situations.

However, taking students outside the classroom requires careful planning of the learning activities and attention to the health and safety risks that might be faced. This module provides guidance on these aspects of planning for learning outside the classroom.

Objectives

To develop an awareness of the positive impact that experiences outside the classroom can have on Education for Sustainable Development;

To develop an understanding of the planning, organisation and risk management required for teaching and learning outside the classroom; and

To identify appropriate strategies for teaching and learning outside the classroom.

Learning in the local area

Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Outside the Classroom

Scene: A Staff Room

I really must organise some fieldwork for my class. We have been studying waste management for two weeks and they really need to go and see what is being done locally.

Teacher B

Where will you go?

Teacher C

For this topic I always take my group on a bus trip to the waste treatment depot. I have worked out a good number of questions and things to point out.

Teacher B

I hate fieldwork. It always takes so much time to prepare worksheets and organise the kids. I would much rather go myself and take slides of the important features. Then I can use them in school with my class and make sure they get all their notes complete.

Teacher A

I am not going to have many question sheets for them to fill in. I want them to make accurate observations and ask their own questions.

Teacher C

Why?

Teacher A

In class the other day two students said they saw some dead fish in the river. Others said they had seen a report about this on television. They were really excited because the TV news was about the very topic they had been studying in class – and here was a local example. They want to visit the waste treatment depot to find out how wastes should be collected and treated so the poison is not put into the river any more.

Q1: Identify the different views about learning outside the classroom held by these three teachers?

Q2: Are these views common in your school? Why?

Q3: What other views about teaching and learning outside the classroom have you heard?

Constraints on Learning Outside the Classroom

Despite the arguments in favour of learning outside the classroom, several key challenges do need to be faced:

Organisational factors such as the difficulty of supervising a large group of students and providing them with the assistance they may need.

The ‘normal’ lessons missed by teachers and students, and alterations that have to be made to the school timetable.

Time needed to plan a worthwhile field trip.

Cost of transport and accommodation, if required.

Lack of detailed knowledge of the locality.

Safety of the students.

Lack of necessary skills in students.

Despite these challenges it should not be forgotten that often the most meaningful and lasting learning takes place when students are actively exploring the great variety of environments outside the classroom.

Learning outside the classroom also provides opportunities for teachers and students to get to know each other better through interacting outside the structures of the classroom and school grounds.

Opportunities for Learning Outside the Classroom

Students can learn in a number of outside environments including:

The school grounds and environs

Urban centres

The local community

Rural and natural areas

Q4: Describe a learning activity appropriate in each of these four types of areas.

There are many ways in which learning outside the classroom can be integrated into the school curriculum – not just subjects such as social studies, geography and science where fieldwork is a tradition. Languages, the arts, mathematics, business and commerce and many others also lend themselves to learning outside the classroom.

For example, in language studies, the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening can be developed through a range of experiences outside the classroom.

Listening and Speaking

The School Grounds and Environs

Listening to sounds and identifying them.

Observing and discussing processes of decision making and conflict resolution.

Interviewing.

The Local Community

Visiting a police station, clinic, bank, market or park and identifying the different tones of voice that people use.

Visiting a youth centre, and record the different types of sounds as people go about different activities.

Urban Centres

Visiting an urban area and listening to the sounds of the city – a market, a railway station, a busy intersection, etc.

Visiting and talking with people who live or work in the city.

Developing a radio programme based on the sounds and voices of a town.

Rural and Natural Areas

Listening to the sounds of a forest, the seashore or a running stream.

Listening to the sounds on a farm. Ask the farmer to help you identify them.

Reading

The School Grounds and Environs

Reading the notice boards in the school.

The Local Community

Visiting the local library and using it.

Reading material that deals with local people and places, and relating this to learners own experiences.

Urban Centres

Reading the signs posted in town, from traffic signs to advertising.

Rural and Natural Areas

Following written instructions for individual or group activities.

Reading stories, poems, and non-fiction about natural history.

Writing

The School Grounds and Environs

Compiling a school map to guide visitors.

Writing a description of a day in the life of a typical student.

The Local Community

Recording local data for later presentation, e.g., through role play, mime, dance, or video.

Writing about family, community or work-related experiences.

Urban Centres

Writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper, about a matter of current interest.

Rural and Natural Areas

Writing a poem about your feelings while sitting in a beautiful natural area.

Approaches to learning outside the classroom

Objectives of Learning Outside the Classroom

Learning outside the classroom can be teacher-centered and expository, or it can be more enquiry-based and student-centered. This choice depends on the nature and objectives of the lesson.

A great range of objectives can be achieved through learning outside the classroom, including:

The formation of attitudes and the development of an aesthetic awareness

The development of understanding and knowledge

The development of skills.

Although the teacher holds the ultimate responsibility for what happens in any lesson, the experience of learning outside the classroom can help students develop a greater sense of their own responsibilities towards each other and the tasks on which they are working.

When planning learning outside the classroom it is necessary to match the activities selected with the objectives and purposes of the fieldwork. The selection of objectives will depend to some extent upon the timing of the fieldwork within the sequence of learning activities:

Early in the learning sequence, learning outside the classroom may be used for basic information gathering and increasing the motivation of students.

Towards the end of a unit of work, learning outside the classroom may be used to draw a number of themes together.

Integrated throughout a unit of work, learning outside the classroom can develop student understanding of concepts, generalisations and principles.

Approaches to Learning Outside the Classroom

Field Teaching

Field observations (often teacher directed). Recording of information in the field. Some field interpretation.

Back in the classroom – further interpretation and explanation together – writing up field report.

This is the traditional approach to teaching and learning outside the classroom. It involves taking students to a field location and delivering a mini-lecture from which students are expected to take notes. Little opportunity exists for student input and reaction.

When done well, this approach can involve students in the careful observation and description of a scene or activity and in suggesting possible explanations based on previously acquired information.

This approach is useful if students are inexperienced in making their own observations or if they lack confidence in their ability to solve problems. This approach provides a structured way for them to find their own examples as an integral part of the learning experience.

Field Research

Identification of a problem as the result of direct observations; or from class work; or from special interests of students.

Formulation of an hypothesis as a result of reading, discussion, thinking.

Field activities to collect data to test hypothesis.

Data analysis – processing information.

Hypothesis testing – accept or reject.

Discussing and writing up of possible ways to solve the originally identified problem using information gathered in the field.

This approach represents an inductive approach to learning. It involves observation, description and explanation but with a problem solving focus. Students often use techniques similar to those used in historical enquiry, geographical research or scientific explanation. This is the inductive approach to fieldwork.

Risk management

Planning to minimise risks to the health and safety of students is an integral principle for learning outside the classroom. Risk management is the name given to the identification, assessment and reduction of these risks.

Being aware of potential risks helps us to think deeply about what we are planning to do, why we are doing it, and whether we have the skills to lead the activity safely.

Key skills for reducing the level of risk before and during activities, include:

Directive Leadership

Use directive leadership in order to reduce the risks of certain activities. Always make sure any direction is accompanied with a reason so that individuals can learn from the experience. For example, it is appropriate to ask students to:

Move away from rock pools that are deep and have an unsafe walking area;

Put on extra clothing if they are cold and exposed to the wind; and/or

Work together in pairs and not to move away to other areas before checking with a supervisor.

Knowing Your Students

The better you know your students the more aware you are of their capabilities, individuals needs, personalities, reactions to stress, etc. If you are aware of these things you are less likely to put students into situations which are beyond them or where the risk level is too great.

Talking About Potential Risk

This is a very important technique for reducing risks both before and during activities. It is not sufficient for a teacher to be the only one possessing the knowledge of the route or contingency plans. Good leaders reveal to the participants as much as possible about the planned activity by, for example:

Telling the group the name of the place they will be going to for the day, and giving them maps of the area.

Tell students what they should do if they are separated from the party.

Tell students who is carrying emergency equipment and who has first aid skills.

Teaching By Progression

This involves teaching particular skills by breaking them down into parts and building upon each one – and then increasing the complexity of the task until an eventual goal is reached. For example, in teaching map reading skills for a visit to a forest, these steps might include:

Step 1 - Indoor sessions with simple maps

Step 2 - Practical sessions in the immediate environment

Step 3 - Indoor sessions with topographical maps

Step 4 - Practical exercises in an open environment with clear boundaries

Step 5 - Practical sessions in the forest environment.

This approach will ensure that students learn the skills they need so that they are less likely, for example, to get lost when participating in field trip experiences.

Developing Safety Consciousness

Safety consciousness is an ongoing process of continually evaluating, applying skills and knowledge to new and changing situations, and exercising judgment in order to prevent incidents before they ever have a chance to develop. As a teacher gains experience in working with students in the outdoors, there is usually a corresponding increase in their safety consciousness.

Reflection

Completing the module: Look back through the activities and tasks to check that you have done them all and to change any that you think you can improve now that you have come to the end of the module.

Q9: A sustainable future requires an ethical approach towards other people and towards the natural environment. Using ideas from this module, and your own experience, write a brief statement of how you and your students will conduct yourselves while studying in the local community. This could be considered a ‘Charter for Learning Outside the Classroom’.

Q10: When planning learning outside the classroom teachers need to be aware of the risk and safety issues involved. List where you could get further advice for identifying and managing possible risks when planning field work in your community.

UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

The aim of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development is promote and improve the integration of Education for Sustainable Development into the educational strategies and action plans at all levels and sectors of education in all countries.

Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future

Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is a multimedia teacher education programme published by UNESCO. It contains 100 hours (divided into 27 modules) of professional development for use in pre-service teacher courses as well as the in-service education of teachers, curriculum developers, education policy makers, and authors of educational materials.

TLSF Dissemination & Training Toolbox

This ‘train-the-trainer’ guide has been prepared to facilitate dissemination, adoption and adaptation of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future for use in locally/nationally relevant ways.